In WO 02/057684, corresponding to U.S. patent application Ser. No. 10/332,401 filed 7 Jan. 2003, a lamp has been described for use in the home which has a lamp base, a lamp shaft and a light source and wherein the light source is replaceable in the lamp shaft. The lamp can be used as a pole lamp or table lamp and the light source can be one or more light-emitting diodes. On the shaft a replaceable lighting body can be mounted which can be contiguous with the shaft and can extend in line therewith and which is composed of a light conducting and preferably transport material, for example a plastic from which the light can emerge laterally.
In that system, the electrical supply may be provided through the shaft to the light-emitting diodes.
In another embodiment, the lamp can be a bar-shaped flashlight and the shaft can form a battery housing which can be closed by a battery housing cover at one end, i.e. the end from which the shaft has been unscrewed from a base. The lamp can be used with or without such light-conducting bodies.
The advantage to a portable lamp which operates with light-emitting diodes is that the light-emitting diodes have significantly less current requirements than incandescent and even fluorescent portable lamps so that at a given battery capacity, the useful life of the lamp is significantly greater. Light-emitting diodes are also less sensitive to impact than portable and pocket lamps provided with incandescent bulbs. Even independently of impacts and rough handling, flashlights with incandescent bulbs have a significantly shorter life span than a flashlight provided with a light-emitting diode.